


The Thief

by TheSmudgyOne



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst, F/M, Not-So-Sensible Blue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:15:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2445089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSmudgyOne/pseuds/TheSmudgyOne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blue begins to act strangely (including some breaking&entering....) and Noah tries to find out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Thief

"You bought _what?_ " Blue said, stalking up to Gansey.

Noah watched from behind the sofa as Gansey slowly backed away. 

"I thought you'd be happy," Gansey said.

Blue clenched her fists. "Let me get this straight. You thought I'd be happy that you threw away thousands of dollars on renting out an auditorium for the entire day, just to organize a fake academic bowl? Haven't you heard of faking a phone call to the attendance office?"

"I thought you'd be happy!" Gansey repeated. "It would get you out of a day of school next week! More time in Cabeswater means getting into the cave faster. I spent it for you."

"The caves are dangerous! We can't just rush in like a bunch of....wildebeests."

"Wildebeests?"

"Yes, wildebeests!" Blue said defiantly. "We need go be more reasonable. And if you wanted to spend some money on making me happy, then get rid of those godawful boat shoes and buy some new ones!"

"Boat shoes....what? Blue?"

Blue advanced on him, pointing a threatening finger at his chest, gathering steam. "I swear, when we find Glendower, I'm going to be the one to wake him, and for my grand supernatural favor, I am going to wish for him to obliterate those shoes of yours from existence!"

And with that, she stormed out of Monmouth.

Gansey turned to Noah. "Was that conversation confusing to you?"

Noah shrugged. Lately, whenever Blue was angry at Gansey, it somehow always came back around to yelling about his shoes. Noah figured it was probably her way of redirecting. It was easier to yell about ugly shoes than think about her missing mother. It was probably normal.

"I'll go after her," Noah said. 

He found her tucked in a grove of trees behind Monmouth, sobbing quietly. 

"I hate those shoes," she whispered fiercely, her tear-streaked face pressed into her knees. "There is nothing on earth as ugly as those shoes." Her intensity was a little frightening. Noah just nodded and stroked her hair. 

"You're going to be okay," he said. But he was feeling less and less sure of that.

*

It was two days before the first day of school now, and Noah was sulking. 

"We're playing this for you, Ghost Boy," Ronan said, pointing a flashlight accusingly at Noah. "I'm not going to act out movie titles for your entertainment if you're not even watching." 

This was fair. Charades had been Noah's idea, and they were humoring his whims because soon, he'd be alone during the day while they went to school.

But there had been a power outage an hour ago, and the darkness gave him a crawling feeling.

"It's kind of creepy in here," Noah said, rubbing his arms.

"Want more flashlights?" Gansey asked.

"It feels like we're being watched," Noah said, gathering steam. 

"Here," Gansey said. "I'll open a window, and let some fresh air in, and then it will feel nice and-"

_SMASH!_

The window smashed in from the outside, hailing giant, angry shards of glass over Gansey. He cried out and ducked, covering his head. The shadow of an intruder ducked out of view.

Ronan raced to the window. "HEY!" He reached out through the jagged hole ( _"got you!"_ ), yanked the intruder up by the hair and- "Blue?"

Ronan let go of her. Blue stood on the other side of the window, covered in glittering glass. Her hair stuck up at the back and her face was very red. 

"I didn't realize it was you," Ronan said.

"Why are you breaking our window?" Gansey asked from the floor.

"Gansey!" Blue cried, peering in. "Are you okay? It was an accident! I....fell?"

Noah stepped closer, squinting. He peered through the window and saw a metal baseball bat at Blue's feet, almost entirely covered the bushes. He thought he saw Blue nudge it in further with her toe. She was wearing all-black clothing, a simple pair of pants and top - and a pair of plastic gloves peeked out of one pocket.

"I was trying to surprise you guys!" Her voice was high and squeaky. "I was going to pop up at the window. I had this whole prank planned and....well, I'm really sorry."

Ronan narrowed his eyes, but Gansey simply picked some glass shards off his hair and said,

"No harm done, Jane. Come on in!"

But Blue started to back away, glass falling off her shoulders and clattering to the ground.   
"You know, I just remembered I have a dog walking thing. See you!" And with a lot of crunching of glass shards, she ran off. 

*

Noah lay on his bed, listening to his newly-compiled mix of Very Sad Music For Back-To-School at top volume and reading terrible fanfiction. The combination had a numbing effect which almost drowned out the fact that Gansey and Ronan had been back at Aglionby for 4 hours now. 

The mix ended. It was set on loop, but in the silence before it restarted again, Noah heard a noise. A noise very close by.

_Thump._

Someone was in Monmouth.

Noah went invisible. He left the music on, and tiptoed out in the direction of the sound. It was coming from Gansey's room.

_Thump. Creeeeeak._

Noah peered into the door. Someone in all-black was digging through the pile of stuff beneath Gansey's desk. Noah panicked. He began to back out.

Then the figure straightened, and Noah gasped.

"Blue?"

Blue whirled around. "Noah?" Her voice sounded thick, like she had a bad cold. She was gripping a small paper grocery bag.

"It's me." He made himself visible again. Blue stepped into the light, and he saw that her face was very red, and streaked with tears.

"I was just leaving," she said. "Sorry to scare you." The bag rustled at her side. Her hands were shaking.

Noah walked over and took her free hand. "Are you stealing stuff from Gansey's room?" When Blue's chin wobbled, he said, "Cause, you know, you can tell me about it. Whatever the reason is." She stared furiously straight ahead, so he nudged her playfully and added, "I'd probably help you."

Blue turned, wide-eyed. "Would you? Really?"

"Sure." Noah gently tugged the bag from her hands, and she let him. Inside, there was a pair of Gansey's boat shoes. Noah examined them, trying to understand. Blue started crying again.

"He has more than one pair!" she sobbed. "Who the hell owns more than one pair of boat shoes? 'Oh, wow, I really love these things which are the most horrible shoes in all of creation so let's get a backup incase someone steals these?'"

"It does seem to be a risk."

"They're hideous!" she sobbed.

"So....that's why you were stealing them?" he asked, trying to gently steer her towards an explanation of the real reason.

She sniffled. "Can you keep a secret?" He gave her a look, so she added, "no, really." 

"Keeping secrets is my number one skill. Well, maybe two, after fanfiction."

Blue sat down on Gansey's bed. Noah sat next to her. She leaned against him, her soft hair tickling his cheek. She smelled like Gansey's mint leaves.

"Do you know about St. Mark's Eve?" Blue asked. Noah didn't. So she took the shoes from Noah, and she told him. She fiddled with the shoes, twisting the laces around her fingers tighter and tigther as she talked about the procession of the dead, hearing the names, and how there had been one in an Aglionby uniform _("it's the first day of school, Noah")_ that she had been able to see.

Then she clutched the shoes to her chest and said, "You can see what they'll be wearing when they die."

Noah looked at her hands, white-knuckled around the shoes. He let her cry as long as she needed, and when she was done, he said,

"Come on. We've got some shoes to steal."


End file.
